Monday, July 29, 2013

Big Nick's on the Upper West Side closed for good last night. West Side Rag reported the news first that yesterday would be Nick's last day. After 51 years in business, and remaining ever popular, the beloved burger and pizza joint could not afford the massive increase in already high rent--from $42,000 to $60,000 a month.

The landlord refused to negotiate a better deal, and Big Nick's has been on a month-to-month for awhile now.

An employee said the space will become a bank. However, as City Council member Gale Brewer wrote on her Facebook page today, "A bank cannot come in--per the law that I passed--if the length of the store is more than 25 feet. That's the max for any bank."

Wow, Big Nick's was one of the first places I ate at when I moved to New York in 1993 and lived on the Upper West Side. Glad I got to experience the place. It's going to be weird coming back to New York In the fall. I've only moved away for less than a year and so much has closed and changed.

I just want to point out some things I have observed about the major transitions in NYC the past 10 years.

Sex & City created a new effect on NYC.

Mayor Bloomberg attempted to turn NYC into a European city.

I have been asking large numbers of "Hipsters" where they are from originally, most seem to hail from California.

NYC Natives have been fleeing to Florida and other southern cities.

Franchises have have destroyed the character of Manhattan.

These seem to be the most obvious things creating the character destruction of Manhattan and turning it into a suburban shopping mall with suburban non city people. I like to call them "Yupsters". Because they seem to want to be unique, artistic, bohemian, yet they drive up the rents, hate natives, are pretentious, and seem to be everything a yuppie was supposed to be (upper middle class suburban), yet are hypocritical an selfish.

There's a place in hell for all these greedy landlords who can't see the value of a business that is doing well for 50 plus years. They prefer the transitory flash in the pan vs. the solid and the loyal customer who was already paying a hefty sum and was willing to negotiate. When I was a young teenager I thought yuppies were the worst, but you know, they weren't. They seemed to like NYC for what it was and wanted to be a part of it. They took over Soho but they converted lofts, they didn't blow them up to make suburban style malls or cheesy glass towers. Now the new species, we'll call "yunnies" are swallowing NYC whole. It's like The Blob

Last night (Sunday) we unexpectedly found ourselves absorbed in a PBS show about the London Blitz. A full square-mile around St. Paul's destroyed in a matter of hours. Including a place or two that hadn't been destroyed by the Great Fire of 1666. Ever wonder why a great, and old (like, Roman old) city the like of London has so little that is, say Medieval? Blitzes happen. New York, too, will survive and triumph over this corporatist Blitz. Gotta have faith.

There are times when I'm walking around the city - particularly deep into the outer boroughs and I find myself surprised that actual life still does exist. Unfortunately, the pace of this city's destruction is such that I don't know if any neighborhood within shouting distance of the subway is safe.

My hope in all of this is that we're in the worst of the storm and the fact that nobody could be worse than Bloomberg.

Friends just returned from a year out west and were discouraged to hear about Big Nick's...as are we. Also, EVG reports that friendly, neighborhood old timers Amici Pizza vanished from Third Ave. this week...